“It’s business as usual,” Schneider said. “It’s a unique situation. Everybody knows something is going to happen. There’s always speculation. Rumors are flying, and something’s going to happen. It’s in Brian’s hands right now, but as a player, all you can do is just show up every day and go out there and work, keep going. It’s nothing new to me. I think it probably affects young guys more than it affects veteran players.

I wasn’t naïve. I knew it was a possibility at any time. I signed my deal without any kind of trade clause in it, so it’s always a possibility. But at the same time, who knows what’s going to happen right now? We really don’t. No one has any kind of inkling. There are a lot of different scenarios that could unfold. Until it happens, there’s no sense really worrying about it.”

Usually a pointless exercise, in the gridlocked NHL, except in the week of Scott Niedermayer’s return to the Anaheim Ducks, the team he helped to win the 2007 Stanley Cup. Before they can activate Niedermayer, the Ducks need to trade away a player signed to a contract through to the end of the 2008-09 earning around $900,000 to make the salary-cap numbers work. It would be easiest to move defenceman Mathieu Schneider, for a whole lot of reasons: First, Schneider was signed as Niedermayer’s replacement; with Niedermayer returning, the need to have him in the line-up is greatly reduced.

So here’s the bottom line - Niedermayer’s suspension will not be lifted until such time that he is a) in game shape; and, b) the Ducks make a trade to free up “tagging” room for next season.

How long all that takes only Burke knows for sure.

What we do know is that this all has to transpire in 21 days or less. Twenty-one days is the amount of time the league will allow Niedermayer to remain in a suspended state where he can practice with the team, work out with the team, but not be on the 23-man roster, not count against the cap or play a game.

Now, let me mix in the biggest development of the day. Word has it there will be a press conference tonight at Honda Center just before the game in which Brian Burke will announce ... something. We will report on that press conference immediately after it’s complete and let you know what the announcement is. Spoiler alert: I’m told Scotty’s’ coming back.

added 10:10pm,

“I’m excited to be rejoining my teammates and getting back on the ice,” said Niedermayer. “I would like to thank the Samuelis, Brian Burke and especially my teammates for their patience while I wrestled with this very difficult decision.”

Truth be told, the player the Ducks would most like to ship out is Todd Marchant who earns $2.517 million - too much for what he brings to the table as a fourth-line checking forward. Who would take Marchant, up front, at the figure? No one. That’s why the Ducks might need to get creative to make a deal happen. Someone with salary-cap space might take Marchant off their hands, provided Anaheim sweetened the deal by including their own 2008 first-round choice in the transaction.

Todd Marchant admitted it was a tough pill to swallow Sunday when he was a healthy scratch for only the second time in his 14-year career.

“As a player, I’m not happy about it, but the only thing I can do is control what I can control,”

Marchant has been moved around the forward spots and played on mulitple lines this season. Coach Randy Carlyle said he would like to see more tenacity from Marchant, a former Olympian who has been known as one of the faster skaters in the NHL.

“Todd Marchant’s a skating hockey player, and he’s got to be on the puck all the time,” Carlyle said. “My expectations for our whole group are that we have to more of a skating group.”